TIGblogs TIG | TIGblogs GROUP TIGBLOGS LOGIN SIGNUP
Johne's Blog
Johne's Blog
Media Statement from the International AIDS Society
Related to country: Nigeria

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Media Statement from the International AIDS Society

New HIV estimates confirm that HIV/AIDS is still a leading
cause of death worldwide

New global HIV estimates, released this week by the Joint United
Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health
Organization
(WHO),underscore the continued severity of the HIV pandemic. An
estimated 33.2 million adults and children are living with HIV at the
end of 2007,including 2.5 million newly infected. More than two million

men, women and children died of AIDS-related complications over the
past
year, bringing the cumulative number of deaths to more than 20 million.

The new estimate of global HIV/AIDS prevalence is a reduction from the
2006 estimate of 39.5 million. While this is good news - there are less

people living with the life-threatening virus - these revised estimates

mostly reflect the better use of monitoring tools, new surveys and more
sophisticated modelling of the epidemic. HIV/AIDS is the subject of
some
of the most sophisticated measures of any disease tracked globally. New

measuring techniques in India alone account for 3 million fewer
infections
(down from 5.7 to 2.5 million). The data also reflect the positive
impact
of HIV prevention programmes in a small number of countries.

The epidemic is not homogeneous. Sub-Saharan Africa bears the brunt of
the
pandemic, accounting for more than two-thirds (68%) of persons living
with
HIV and more than three-quarters (76%) of deaths in this year. In other

parts of the world, the epidemic remains concentrated in key
populations,
including men who have sex with men, injecting drug users and sex
workers.
In these populations, infection rates are often as high as 50%.

In the Eastern European region, including Russia, infection rates have
increased by over 150% since 2001, and show no signs of abating. Half
of all infections worldwide are in women, particularly young women, who

in many parts of the world remain powerless to control their own sexual
lives in the face of violence and lack of lack of protection of basic
human rights.

A number of critics have accused the UNAIDS and WHO of distorting
figures
in the past to push for increased funding to fight AIDS. This seems an
unnecessary and petty position. The fact is, the evolution of HIV
prevention, treatment, and care over the past quarter century is one of

the great successes of medical science. Committed and sustained
research
efforts, combined with an increasing political and social mobilization,

have provided the evidence on which approaches to programming are
based.
These same scientific efforts are now resulting in new prevention
technologies and drugs, and new strategies to manage and deliver both.
They are also allowing us to see a clearer picture of the epidemic.

The new data also indicate that increased resources provided in the
past
five years through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria, the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
(PEPFAR),the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and many other bilateral donors and
private foundations, with leadership from UNAIDS, its co-sponsoring
organizations, governments and civil society are beginning to show
positive results in some countries. Access to life-saving
antiretroviral
treatment has increased worldwide, saving millions of lives. Sadly,
still
less than 30% of those who need the medications have access. These
increased resources for fighting AIDS are also beginning to have a
positive impact on the health systems of the poorest countries.

Country-level programmes funded through the Global Fund and PEPFAR have

helped build systems and services that support not only millions of
people
living with HIV/AIDS, but also reach into communities burdened with
tuberculosis, malaria and a host of other preventable diseases.

The release of these new HIV estimates is an opportunity to examine
where
we are in the global response to HIV. Unfortunately, at the end of
2007,
lack of political will continues to hold back the response,
particularly
in the groups most vulnerable to HIV. In 2006, the governments of the
world came together at the United Nations General Assembly to review
progress on fighting the disease. Experts, including the International
AIDS Society, were shocked that the declaration resulting from this
meeting failed to name the marginalized communities most affected by
the
disease - gay men and other men who have sex with men, injecting drug
users and sex workers. Public health imperatives dictate that
religious,
ideological or moral attitudes must never be used as an excuse to
ignore
the realities of a preventable disease that has affected the entire
world.

No one working around the world on HIV/AIDS wants anything other than
to
see the global statistics on HIV/AIDS drop to zero. Unfortunately we
are a
long way from achieving that dream. The gap between what is urgently
needed and where we are today is nothing short of a crime against
humanity. The time for universal action is now

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the International AIDS Society's 10,000
plus
members are professionals involved at all levels of the global response
to
HIV/AIDS.

For additional information:

Mallory Smuts (Switzerland)
Tel: +41 22 7100822
Email: Mallory.smuts@iasociety.org


Elile Johne
Youth Empowerment Foundation
Program Assitant
LEAP Africa Alumni
+234-805-9260-736
1-773-2201
gozzle2002@yahoo.com
www.johnelile.8k.com

December 6, 2007 | 10:13 AM Comments  0 comments

Tags:
You must be logged in to add tags.


Johne's Profile

Johne's Friends


Latest Posts
Underground sex in the...
Mind your language - a...
Gays hesitate at the...
AIDS spending breaks...
NIGERIA: Sex, trucks...

Monthly Archive
February 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
December 2007
August 2008

Change Language


Filter By Type
Events
News
Travel
Topics

Friends
abimbola ashowo
ALEXANDER
angel
Anne Amy
Azubike
Bless4real
cheta
Chinwe
CHINYERE NWOSU
Esther Agbarakwe
Esther Eshiet
EwaJesu
Ipinnaiye Opeyemi Isaiah
Isimeme
JenniferE
Julia Emanuel
Kate Bolaffi
maryjn
mukolo uche eseoghene
NKATHA
opara george
PAT
Tamoy
uduak nta
Ukoha Nnenna
Veevee

Links
Johne
National Action Committee...
TakingItGlobal


8448 views
Important Disclaimer